As part of the work to defend labor rights in the care sector, PSI, together with Ciudadanía - Comunidad de Estudios Sociales y Acción Pública, organized a face-to-face workshop in Cochabamba, Bolivia, which brought together union representatives from the health, cleaning, early childhood and solidarity employment sectors on May 17, 2025. The participants reaffirmed their commitment to continue fighting for fair working conditions and for the recognition of care as a right, a public service and a central axis of social justice.

The meeting was attended by more than 30 women workers and union representatives from the Albina Patiño Pediatric Center Union, the Public Health System Union of the Department of Cochabamba, the Municipal Children's Centers Union, the Single Union of Workers of the Municipal Cleaning Services Company (EMSA) and the Departmental Federation of Solidarity Employment Workers (FEDETESCO). It was a privileged space that brought these unions together for the first time and facilitated reflection, collective analysis and articulation among union organizations facing precarious working conditions, unstable contracts and lack of institutional recognition.

During the day, organizational experiences were shared, the analysis of working conditions was deepened and the strategic role of the union as a tool for winning rights was addressed. The participants identified common problems such as work overload, low wages, lack of social protection and the limitations of "online consulting" contracts, a legal figure that prevents the exercise of basic collective rights such as unionization and collective bargaining.

In the words of Virginia Caero, of the Albina Patiño Pediatric Center Union, "the struggle continues, despite persecution and unjustified sanctions. We need to strengthen ourselves through training and empowerment".

From the urban cleaning sector, Rosalía Quisbert of the EMSA union, denounced that "we work at night, exposed to aggressions and accidents, without recognition, without adequate protective equipment or overtime pay". Along the same lines, Victoria Moreira, of FEDETESCO, stated: "We women in vulnerable situations have had to organize protests and hunger strikes to receive the minimum wage we are entitled to. Even so, we continue to fight.

The workshop also included a presentation by labor lawyer Manolo Bellot, who reviewed the national and international regulatory frameworks applicable to care work, stressing the need to guarantee decent working conditions and fundamental rights such as social security, stability and protection against discrimination and violence.

Susana Barria, PSI Andean sub-regional secretary, emphasized that "collective action and trade union strengthening are key to promoting social dialogue and demanding decent working conditions, especially in contexts of precariousness. She also proposed to advance in alliances with federations and confederations to bring complaints to international bodies such as the ILO, making visible the negative impact of the precarious forms of contracting that predominate in the sector today.

Among the agreements reached at the meeting were the following: to hold a thematic legal follow-up session with Manolo Bellot; to build a collective argument to denounce before the ILO the figure of the "online consultant" (contracts for the provision of services without guarantees); to promote coordination between unions and federation processes; and to maintain communication and facilitate future joint actions.